This invention relates to vacuum curing of composite workpieces and, more particularly, to a new and improved vacuum curing tool.
The fabrication of molded products utilizing a vacuum bag is well known in the art. However, in the prior art, the normal procedure in this technique comprises attaching a vacuum curing bag to the tool on which the part is to be formed and securing the bag with vacuum putty, tape, mechanical clamps, or a combination of these. One or more holes are then formed in the vacuum curing bag for attachment of vacuum hoses and a vacuum gage all of which are sealed by mechanical fittings, putty or tape. A typical example of such prior art is in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,977 showing clamps to attach the bag to a tool base.
It can be appreciated that the prior art involved large amounts of skilled manpower, and it is therefore an object of this invention to simplify, and to reduce the labor involved in, the vacuum curing technique.
A more specific object of this invention is to provide a new and improved vacuum curing tool which eliminates the prior art clamps, putty and other time consuming procedures necessary in utilizing these tools in a bagging vacuum operation.